Shopify Markets: How to Sell Internationally From One Store

Shopify Markets is the set of tools built into Shopify for selling in other countries from a single store. You group countries into markets, then set local currencies, languages, domains, prices, and product availability for each one. Creating region markets is free on all plans, though payment, currency conversion, and duty-related fees can apply.

If your store isn’t configured for this yet, a Shopify development company can set up Markets, currencies and duty rules correctly the first time, since misconfigured tax or shipping settings are the most common reason international launches stall.

Key takeaways

• Free to start. Country and region markets are available on every Shopify plan, with no limit on how many you create.
• One store, many experiences. Inventory, orders, and customers stay in one admin while each market gets its own currency, language, URL structure, and pricing.
• You stay responsible for tax and duties. With standard Markets, you remain the merchant of record. Managed Markets shifts that role to Global-e for a per-order fee.
• Managed Markets has eligibility rules. It is available to businesses based in the continental US and certain stores in Canada and the UK, and it requires Shopify Payments.
• Start small. Launch one or two markets, test the full checkout, then expand.

What is Shopify Markets?

A market is a group of buyers that you give a specific buying experience. Country and region markets are the type used for cross-border selling. Shopify also supports retail, B2B, and channel markets, and you can combine them in one store.

Country and region markets are available on all Shopify plans, and you can create unlimited markets.

Your store currency determines your primary market, which can include only one country. Other markets can cover a single country (for example, Canada) or a group of countries that share the same pricing, product, and shipping strategy (for example, a single Europe market).

Submarkets sit inside a parent market and inherit its settings. For example, you can create a France submarket under a Europe market and change only what differs.

What can you customize in each market?

Each market can have its own:

• Currency and pricing: local currency display, rounding rules, and price adjustments.
• Languages: translated store content, assigned per market.
• Domain or URL structure: subfolder, subdomain, or country-code domain.
• Product catalog: which products are sold to which market. Catalog availability and limits vary by market type and plan. Region-market catalogs (controlling product availability by country) have no documented limit. B2B market catalogs are capped at 3 active catalogs across all B2B markets on the Basic, Grow, and Advanced plans, and unlimited on Plus. Some related features, such as contextual checkout and theme customization by market, require the Advanced plan or higher.
• Shipping and duty settings: rates and how duties and import taxes are shown or collected.

Everything is managed from one Shopify admin, with one inventory, one order list, and one customer database.

How do currency and pricing work?

Selling in local currencies relies on Shopify Payments. With automatic exchange rates, prices convert at the current market rate, and the price your customer sees includes a currency conversion fee.

You can also:

• Use rounding rules so a converted price such as $10.27 becomes $10.00.
• Set manual exchange rates. In that case, the conversion fee is not added to the displayed price and is reflected in your payouts instead.
• Override prices for individual markets.

Customers’ banks or card issuers may charge their own international transaction fees. Those fees are charged to the customer, not to you.

What domain structure should you use?

You can assign each market one of three URL structures:

Shopify recommends subfolders for most stores because they are the easiest to manage and require no additional domain registration.

Shopify handles the international SEO plumbing automatically. When you configure markets with domains, languages, and localized content, it generates hreflang tags, canonical URLs, and sitemaps. This tells search engines which URL serves which market and language, a genuine technical advantage over managing it by hand. It is infrastructure, not an outcome: it doesn’t guarantee rankings, traffic, or visibility in any market. Where you rank still depends on translation quality, content relevance, and the usual off-page SEO factors for that market.

Watch out: if you delete a market that uses a subfolder, visitors who open that localized URL will see a 404 error page. Plan redirects before removing a market.

International domains require the Basic plan or higher.

How many languages can you offer?

A single store can sell in up to 20 languages on the Basic, Grow, Shopify, and Advanced plans, and up to 30 on Plus. Checkout is pre-translated in 33 languages.

Shopify’s Translate & Adapt app can automatically translate your content with AI into a set number of languages, and you can add the rest manually, via a CSV file, or with a compatible third-party app. Whenever a translation doesn’t exist, the store displays the content in your primary language. That means untranslated pages can appear in the wrong language for international visitors, so review product pages and metadata before launching a market.

Who handles duties and taxes?

With standard Markets, you remain the merchant of record. Tax registration, duty payment, and customs compliance stay your responsibility.

You can, however, calculate and collect duties and import taxes at checkout if your store meets these requirements:

• If you buy shipping labels through Shopify, you use a carrier that supports Delivered Duty Paid (DDP) labels.
• You don’t use Shopify Fulfillment Network.
• Your products have Harmonized System (HS) codes.

You then choose how duties appear to customers:

• Show as a line item: duties are added to the total at checkout. This keeps product-page prices lower but can affect checkout completion.
• Duties included in price: you absorb the cost, or adjust your prices to cover it.

Shopify may charge a transaction fee on orders where duties and import taxes are calculated at checkout, so review the current terms in the Help Center before you enable it. If you don’t meet the requirements, a third-party app can calculate duties instead, and Shopify integration services can connect that app, your carrier, and your HS-coded catalog so duty collection works correctly at checkout.

Markets vs Managed Markets: what’s the difference?

Managed Markets builds on Shopify Markets and adds Global-e as the merchant of record. Global-e registers for tax in the countries you sell to and remits duties and taxes on your behalf, in exchange for a per-order fee.

Managed Markets requirements

To use Managed Markets, your store must:

• Be on the Basic plan or higher, with an online store.
• Use Shopify Payments.
• Have a store currency that is the default currency of the country where your business is based.
• Sell products that meet Shopify’s prohibited and restricted item rules.
• Meet your country’s location requirements. US businesses must be based in the continental US, with at least one non-PO-box location and one fulfillment location there.

Some countries, regions, and currencies are not supported, and some product categories are restricted. If a product is prohibited in a destination, Managed Markets hides it from customers there.

How Managed Markets pricing works

With adaptive pricing, Managed Markets adjusts international prices to include duties, taxes, currency conversion, and merchant-of-record fees, so buyers see one duties-paid price.

Exchange rates. The rate used for conversion is stabilized and guaranteed for 30 days with each order, so a given order’s rate won’t move once it’s placed. The underlying stabilized rate is typically updated every 7 days. Still, Shopify may update it more often during periods of extreme volatility, specifically when the market rate moves more than 5% from the stabilized rate. Because the rate is stabilized rather than a live mid-market rate, it will differ somewhat from the rate you’d see on a currency converter.

Duties and taxes. When “Include duties and taxes in prices” is active for a market (on by default under Managed Markets), the duty and tax amount reflected in the price is guaranteed at checkout: if customs later assesses a different amount than what was charged, Managed Markets absorbs the difference rather than billing the customer again. This guarantee applies specifically to the duties/tax calculation, not to currency movements or other order costs.

Which should you choose?

The guidance below reflects our own practical recommendation based on typical merchant scenarios, not an official Shopify recommendation. Your best option depends on your specific countries, margins, and compliance capacity, so confirm eligibility and current fees with Shopify before deciding.

• Standard Markets tends to fit if you’re testing international demand, sell to a few countries you understand, or already have tax and duty processes in place.
• Managed Markets tends to fit if you want to sell to many destinations without registering for tax and arranging customs clearance yourself, you meet its eligibility requirements, and the per-order fee still works for your margins.

How to set up your first market

1. Check the basics. Confirm Shopify Payments is active and choose one or two target countries.
2. Open Markets. In your Shopify admin, go to Markets and review your primary market and the default international market (inactive until you set it up).
3. Create a market. Under Includes, add a condition for Regions and select the countries.
4. Set currency and pricing. Choose automatic or manual exchange rates, turn on rounding, and add any price adjustments.
5. Add languages and a URL structure. Translate your store and assign a subfolder, subdomain, or domain.
6. Control your catalog. Use catalogs to decide which products sell in this market.
7. Configure shipping and duties. Set shipping rates and decide how you handle duties and import taxes.
8. Preview, test, activate. Check pricing, taxes, shipping, and excluded products, place a test order, then activate the market.

Common mistakes to avoid

• Assuming Markets handles tax registration and duty remittance. It doesn’t unless you use Managed Markets.
• Publishing a language without translating key pages. Untranslated content falls back to your primary language.
• Deleting a subfolder market without a redirect plan. Visitors will hit a 404 page.
• Launching many markets at once. Start with one or two, measure results, then expand.
• Ignoring product restrictions. Some products can’t be shipped to some countries.

Frequently asked questions

Is Shopify Markets free?

Creating region markets is free on all Shopify plans. Costs can still apply, including currency conversion fees, payment processing fees, transaction fees when duties are calculated at checkout, and Managed Markets fees if you use it.

Do I need Shopify Plus to sell internationally?

No. Country and region markets are available on every plan, and Managed Markets is available from the Basic plan up, subject to eligibility. Plus raises the language limit from 20 to 30 and removes the B2B catalog cap.

How many markets can I create?

Shopify documents no limit on the number of country or region markets you can create. B2B markets are treated differently: outside Plus, you can have up to three catalogs across all B2B markets.

Does Shopify Markets handle duties and taxes for me?

Not by default. You can calculate and collect duties and import taxes at checkout if you meet Shopify’s requirements, but you remain the merchant of record. Managed Markets shifts that responsibility to Global-e.

Does Shopify Markets help with international SEO?

It handles the technical foundation: Shopify automatically generates hreflang tags, canonical URLs, and sitemaps when you configure domains and languages for a market. That helps search engines serve the right URL to the right audience, but it’s infrastructure, not a ranking guarantee. Visibility still depends on translation quality and locally relevant content.

Should I use Shopify Markets or a separate store for each region?

Markets suits most merchants because inventory, orders, and customers stay in one place. Separate stores only make sense when regions need truly independent catalogs, pricing, or teams, and they add operational overhead.

Who can use Managed Markets?

Businesses based in the continental United States, and certain stores in Canada and the UK. You also need Shopify Payments, a Basic plan or higher, and a store currency that matches your business’s home country.

What are the currency conversion fees?

Shopify Payments charges 1.5% for US stores and 2% for stores in France and other Shopify Payments regions. With automatic exchange rates, the fee is included in the price your customer sees.